STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. H C VORA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) is appeal is filed by the State of Gujarat against the order passed by the learned single Judge (Coram : N. H. Bhatt, J.) dated 4/10/1978 by which the learned single Judge allowed the writ petition, i.e., Special Civil Application No. 1374 of 1973 holding that the petitioner was entitled to be considered alongwith other persons on the basis of seniority from the date when he was initially appointed as a Commuter in the office of the District Superintending Engineer, East Saurashtra, Irrigation Circle, as per order dated 30/08/1961 and the respondents (present appellants) were directed to extend all lawful benefits to the petitioner on the basis of the said date.

(2.) It is the case of the original petitioner in the petition that he was appointed as a temporary Commuter by the Superintending Engineer, East Saurashtra, Irrigation Circle, by an order dated 30/08/1961. The said office came to be closed from 15/12/1967 and therefore, he was declared surplus. By the order Annexure 'A' to the petition, the petitioner was, therefore, appointed as a Clerk in the office of the Sales Tax Officer, Investigation Branch, Rajkot with effect from that date. The said order contains certain conditions, some of them, which are relevant for the purpose of the present controversy, read as under :

(3.) Thus, at the time of the appointment in December 1967, the petitioner was clearly and unequivocally informed that his seniority will be counted from the date of his appointment in Sales Tax Department. He was also informed that he would have no claim of seniority on the basis of the services rendered by him in his parent department and that "except pay and allowance" all other matters of his appointment would be treated as fresh. As the learned single Judge observed 'the petitioner quietly accepted the new appointment and resumed duties'. It, however, appears that after a substantial period of about six years, the petitioner filed a writ petition being Special Civil Application No. 1374 of 1973 in this Court for an appropriate writ, directions and/or orders directing the respondent-State to consider the seniority of the petitioner on the basis of the total length of the service in the Government and directing them to consider his case for promotion on the basis of the said seniority and to extend all other benefits. Reliance was placed by the petitioner on a circular issued by the Government of Gujarat, G.A.D. dt. 16/07/1962 Annexure 'B' to the petition. The petition was admitted and since it was found by the Court at the relevant point of time that a 'wider question' had been raised in the petition some employees in the representative capacity were ordered to be joined as respondents by an order of the Court and that is how the respondent Nos. 4 to 10 were impleaded as party respondents in the main petition.